Online product reservation system

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for reserving products, events, or services that have limited availability are provided. A product reservation system may be used to announce the availability of limited availability products. The announcements may be at times unknown to consumers. Consumers may participate in a product drawing session to submit one or more reservation requests for limited availability products being offered during the session.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/107,143 filed Jan. 23, 2015 andentitled “Online Product Reservation System,” the contents of which areexpressly incorporated herein by reference in their entirety for any andall non-limiting purposes.

BACKGROUND

It is common for stores to sell products that have limited availability.For example, a company or store may produce a limited edition productthat will be sought after by collectors. Stores selling new productsthat are part of an initial product offering may also find that thereare more consumers than products available. Consumers seeking productsthat have limited availability may wait in lines at brick and mortarstores for extended time periods. Some consumers may spend several hourscamped outside of a store prior to the store opening in hopes ofobtaining a product with limited availability. Similar issues may occurwhen consumers try to make reservations for events or services.

Standing in long lines in hopes of obtaining a product with limitedavailability can result in a negative shopping experience for consumers.This is particularly true when consumers wait outside of brick andmortar stores during inclement weather. Of course, some consumers willleave without a product even after waiting. A negative shoppingexperience can result in consumers not wanting to purchase products froma particular store or manufacturer in the future.

Therefore, there is a need in the art for improved systems and methodsfor matching products having limited availability with consumers.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basicunderstanding of some aspects of the disclosure. The summary is not anextensive overview of the disclosure. It is neither intended to identifykey or critical elements of the disclosure nor to delineate the scope ofthe disclosure. The following summary merely presents some concepts ofthe disclosure in a simplified form as a prelude to the descriptionbelow.

Systems and methods for reserving products, services and/or events thathave limited availability are provided. A social networking service maybe used to announce the availability of reservations for and/or therelease date(s) of limited availability products, events and/orservices. The announcements may be at times unknown to consumers.Consumers may respond to the announcements via the social networkingservice. The announcement may include a link to a website where the usermay participate in a drawing for the limited availability product,event, and/or service. The user may be required to provider certaininformation, such as payment and product preference information, afterbeing directed to the website.

In some aspects of the disclosure herein, consumers may have a limitedamount of time to participate in the drawing and submit reservationrequests. For example, consumers may only be permitted to submitreservation requests within 10 minutes after the start of the drawing.In other aspects of the disclosure herein, consumers may only win thedrawing if a product, event or service is available. For example, ifonly 50 products are available, only 50 consumers that submitted areservation request will have an opportunity to win the drawing.

Some embodiments can be partially or wholly implemented on acomputer-readable medium, for example, by storing computer-executableinstructions or modules, or by utilizing computer-readable datastructures. Of course, the methods and systems of the above-referencedembodiments may also include other additional elements, steps,computer-executable instructions, or computer-readable data structures.

The details of these and other embodiments are set forth in theaccompanying drawings and the description below. Other features andadvantages will be apparent from the description and drawings, and fromthe claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example and not limitedin the accompanying figures in which like reference numerals indicatesimilar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example computing device that may be used toimplement aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates an infrastructure that may be used to implement aproduct reservation system in accordance with an example embodiment.

FIG. 3 illustrates a product reservation process in accordance with anexample embodiment.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example product reservation system that may beused to implement aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example user interface screen for a productreservation system in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example user registration interface screen inaccordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIGS. 7-9 illustrate example user registration interface screens inaccordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIGS. 10A-10B and 11 illustrate example user interface screens for anon-line reservation system in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIGS. 12-13 illustrate example overlays for a product reservation userinterface in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIGS. 14-15 illustrate example product reservation user interfacescreens in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 16A illustrates an example social networking interface screen on amobile device in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 16B illustrates an example user interface screen for a productreservation system in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIGS. 17A-D illustrate multiple perspectives of a user interface screenfor a product reservation system in accordance with aspects of thedisclosure.

FIGS. 18A-C illustrate example user login and registration interfacescreens in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIGS. 19A-E illustrate example user registration interface screens inaccordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIGS. 20A-C illustrate example user interface screens for a productreservation system in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIGS. 21A-B illustrate example user interface screens for a productreservation system in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIGS. 22A-D illustrate example user interface screens and overlays for aproduct reservation system in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIGS. 23A-B illustrate example user interface screens for a productreservation system in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIGS. 24A-D illustrate example user interface screens and overlays for aproduct reservation system in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIGS. 25A-C illustrate example user interface screens for a productreservation system in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description of the various embodiments, reference ismade to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and inwhich is shown by way of illustration various embodiments in which thedisclosure may be practiced. It is to be understood that otherembodiments may be utilized and structural and functional modificationsmay be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the presentdisclosure. Further, headings within this disclosure should not beconsidered as limiting aspects of the disclosure. Those skilled in theart with the benefit of this disclosure will appreciate that the exampleembodiments are not limited to the example headings.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary computer 101 that may be used toimplement aspects of the disclosure. Computer 101 may include computingunit 103, which may comprise at least one processing unit 105.Processing unit 105 may be any type of processing device for executingsoftware instructions, such as for example, a microprocessor device.Computer 101 may include a variety of non-transitory computer readablemedia, such as memory 107. Memory 107 may include, but is not limitedto, random access memory (RAM) such as RAM 111, and/or read only memory(ROM), such as ROM 109. Memory 107 may include any of: electronicallyerasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or othermemory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or otheroptical disk storage, magnetic storage devices, or any other medium thatcan be used to store the desired information and that can be accessed bycomputer 101.

The processing unit 105 and the system memory 107 may be connected,either directly or indirectly, through a bus 113 or alternatecommunication structure to one or more peripheral devices. For example,the processing unit 105 or the system memory 107 may be directly orindirectly connected to additional memory storage, such as a hard diskdrive 117, a removable magnetic disk drive, an optical disk drive 119,and a flash memory card. The processing unit 105 and the system memory107 also may be directly or indirectly connected to one or more inputdevices 121 and one or more output devices 123. The output devices 123may include, for example, a display device, television, printer, stereo,or speakers. In some embodiments one or more display devices may beincorporated into eyewear. The display devices incorporated into eyewearmay provide feedback to users. Eyewear incorporating one or more displaydevices also provides for a portable display system. The input devices121 may include, for example, a keyboard, touch screen, a remote controlpad, a pointing device (such as a mouse, touchpad, stylus, trackball, orjoystick), a scanner, a camera or a microphone.

Computer 101, computing unit 103, and/or any other electronic devicesmay be directly or indirectly connected to one or more networkinterfaces, such as example interface 115 for communicating with anetwork, such as network 132. In the example of FIG. 1, networkinterface 115, may comprise a network adapter or network interface card(NIC) configured to translate data and control signals from thecomputing unit 103 into network messages according to one or morecommunication protocols, such as the Transmission Control Protocol(TCP), the Internet Protocol (IP), and the User Datagram Protocol (UDP).These protocols are well known in the art, and thus will not bediscussed here in more detail. An interface 115 may employ any suitableconnection agent for connecting to a network, including, for example, awireless transceiver, a power line adapter, a modem, or an Ethernetconnection. Network 132, however, may be any one or more informationdistribution network(s), of any type(s) or topology(s), alone or incombination(s), such as internet(s), intranet(s), cloud(s), LAN(s).Network 132 may be any one or more of cable, fiber, satellite,telephone, cellular, wireless, etc. Networks are well known in the art,and thus will not be discussed here in more detail. Network 132 may bevariously configured such as having one or more wired or wirelesscommunication channels to connect one or more locations (e.g., schools,businesses, homes, consumer dwellings, network resources, etc.), to oneor more remote servers, or to other computers, such as similar oridentical to computer 101. Indeed, the system may include more than oneinstance of each component (e.g., more than one computer 101, more thanone display, etc.).

Regardless of whether computer 101 or other electronic device withinnetwork 132 is portable or at a fixed location, it should be appreciatedthat, in addition to the input, output and storage peripheral devicesspecifically listed above, the computing device may be connected, suchas either directly, or through network 132 to a variety of otherperipheral devices, including some that may perform input, output andstorage functions, or some combination thereof.

FIG. 2 illustrates an infrastructure that may be used to implement aproduct reservation system in accordance with an example embodiment. Aproduct reservation platform 202 may be used to generate messages andprocess requests. Product reservation platform 202 may be hosted on aserver operated by an entity, such as store or company. Productreservation platform 202 may use a social networking service 204 tobroadcast messages to consumers 206 a-206 e. Exemplary social networkingservices include Twitter, Facebook and Google+. In some embodiments,social networking service 204 may be used to both broadcast messages toa plurality of consumers and exchange messages with individualconsumers. Twitter, for example, allows users to create Tweets that arebroadcasted to all followers of the Tweet source. Twitter also allowsparties to exchange direct messages that are not shared with otherfollowers, e.g., via direct message. The broadcasting and exchanging ofmessages may occur over a wide area network 208, such as the Internet.Communication links may also include one or more wireless carriers, suchas wireless carrier 210. Some embodiments may include a wireless carrierconnected to a wide area network.

Consumers may use a variety of devices to receive broadcast messages andexchange messages. Mobile terminals 206 a and 206 b may be implementedwith smart phones and connect to wide area network 208 via wirelesscarrier 210. Desktop computers 206 c and 206 d may connect to wide areanetwork 208 via an Ethernet connection or other conventional connection.Tablet device 206 e may connect to wide area network 208 using WiFi orany other conventional wireless protocol.

As shown in FIG. 2, product reservation platform 202 may broadcast amessage announcing the availability of a limited availability product tomultiple consumers. The time of the broadcast may be a random orpseudo-random time selected by a computer device. Alternatively, thetime of the event may also be selected by an event or launch planner.The time of the broadcast could be known by some people, but not theintended recipients, such as the consumers. The broadcast message mayinclude a link to a web site offering the exclusive product, event orservice. For example, a hyperlink included in the broadcast message maydirect the consumer to a website (e.g., a website of the entity offeringthe exclusive product, event, and/or service) where the consumer mayparticipate in a drawing for the exclusive product, event, and/orservice. After receiving the broadcast message, a consumer may respondby selecting the link contained in the message to be directed to thewebsite hosting the drawing and to continue the product reservationprocess. In some aspects of the disclosure herein, product reservationplatform 202 may receive a notification indicating that a consumer hasresponded to the broadcast message. The notification transmitted to theproduct reservation platform may include user information, such as ausername or some other unique identifier, such that the productreservation platform may track the one or more consumers responding tothe broadcast message.

As will be described in more detail below, consumers may participate ina drawing for exclusive products, events, and/or services by submittingreservation requests to product reservation platform 202 via a website.Product reservation platform 202 may be configured to receive multiplereservation requests from multiple users simultaneously. In someembodiments, product reservation platform 202 may process reservationrequests on a first come first serve basis. In some aspects of thedisclosure herein, product reservation platform 202 may receive apredetermined number of reservation requests prior to processing thereceived reservation requests. For example, the product reservationplatform may wait to begin processing reservation requests until aminimum number of reservation requests have been submitted. In otheraspects of the disclosure herein, product reservation platform 202 mayonly accept reservation requests from consumers within a predeterminedtime frame or window. For example, the product reservation platform mayonly accept reservation requests from consumers for a 10 minute timewindow at a predetermined time of day and on a predetermined date. Thedate and time at which the drawing will be held for an exclusive product(e.g., date and time when the product reservation platform may beginaccepting reservation requests for that product) may be provided withinthe broadcast message transmitted to consumers. In other exampleembodiments, the duration of the drawing may be provided within thebroadcast message transmitted to consumers.

In some embodiments, after a user has submitted a reservation request,product reservation platform 202 may be configured to transmit a message(e.g., text, email, etc.) to the consumer indicating that theirreservation request has been received. After the close of a drawingsession, the product reservation platform may process submittedreservation requests to determine which users will be given anopportunity to purchase the exclusive product, event, or service (e.g.,determine which users have won the drawing). There are a variety of waysin which the product reservation platform may determine which users willwin a drawing. For example, as will be described in greater detailbelow, the product reservation platform may rank reservation requestssubmitted by users, with the highest ranked users wining the drawing. Insome instances, the product reservation platform may rank reservationsrequests based on various types of information, such as informationincluded in the reservation request, information stored in an accountassociated with the consumer, and the like.

As another example, the product reservation platform may randomly selectusers from the plurality of users that submitted a reservation requestfor a particular product. The product reservation platform may randomlyselect a predetermined number of users based on the number of exclusiveproducts available. In some aspects of the disclosure herein, theproduct reservation system may segregate users submitting reservationrequests into different groups prior to the random selection. Forexample, the product reservation platform may group users based ongeographic location (e.g., zip code), preferred delivery locations, orother information accessible from the user's account or included withina reservation request. The product reservation platform may utilize suchinformation to narrow the pool of users to select from when identifyingwinners of the random selection. For example, the product reservationplatform may restrict the drawing for exclusive products available at aparticular store to those users that have identified the store as theirpreferred delivery location when submitting their reservation request.

As yet another example, the product reservation platform may restrictthe drawing for exclusive products available at a particular store tothose users that live within a threshold proximity of that store (e.g.,10 miles, 50 miles, etc.). In this example, the product reservationplatform may compare the location of the store with user locationinformation (e.g., zip code, mailing address, etc.) prior to randomlyselecting the winners of the drawing. After processing reservationrequests and identifying the winners of the drawing, the productreservation platform may transmit a message to the users who were ableto successfully reserve a right to purchase the exclusive product (e.g.,users who won the drawing). Additionally, or alternatively, the productreservation platform may transmit a message to consumers who were unableto reserve the product.

Product reservation platform 202 may perform a variety of functionsassociated with a marketing campaign. For example, the platform may beused to capture and implement launch details as well as compose andschedule social media broadcast messages to consumers. The platform mayalso be used to track reservation confirmations and reservationfailures, and provide overall reservation analytics. Product reservationplatform 202 may also contain logic that will prevent abuse of thereservation process, such as setting reservation request and/or productpurchase limits (e.g., 1 per person); issuing reservation codes; andcapturing/storing information for consumers to verify at the point ofpick-up and purchase, etc. Product reservation platform 202 may alsohave integrations with customer data management systems that willsupport highly targeted segmentation of announcement messages. A loyaltyprogram may be started where consumers pre-register for product launchesand identify preferred product attributes and/or interests.

FIG. 3 illustrates a product reservation process in accordance with anexample embodiment. In various embodiments some or all of the stepsshown in FIG. 3 may be implemented by product reservation platform 202shown in FIG. 2. First in step 302, a message source broadcasts to aplurality of consumers a message announcing the start of a drawing foran exclusive product. The broadcast message may be sent via a socialnetworking service. The broadcast may occur during a previouslyannounced time period and at a specific time within the time period thatis unknown to the plurality of consumers. For example, an entity (e.g.,manufacturer of the product, a retail store, etc.) may inform consumersthat they will broadcast a message announcing the availability of adrawing for a product on a certain day and at a certain time. The entitymay then transmit the broadcast message at a random or pseudo-randomtime during the day of the drawing or at any other time prior to thedrawing. Alternatively, the entity may transmit the message at apredetermined time that is not known to the consumers. The productreservation system may also broadcast a reminder message prior tobroadcasting the message announcing the product drawing.

In some embodiments, the broadcast message may identify informationnecessary for a user to participate in the product drawing. The neededinformation may include a unique code or phrase that a user may berequired to provide when participating in the product drawing and whensubmitting a reservation request. In other embodiments, the broadcastmessage may identify product information relating to the exclusiveproduct being offered. For example, the message may include a productname, product color-ways, product sizes, and any other information usedto describe the exclusive products being made available during thedrawing. The message may also identify a website hosting the drawingwhere the user may submit reservation requests. For example, thebroadcast message may include a hyperlink to a website where the usermay participate in the product drawing. One or more advertising messagesmay also be transmitted during the previously announced time period andprior to broadcasting the message announcing the start of the drawing.

The product reservation system may selectively transmit (e.g.,broadcast) communications indicating an opportunity to reserve/and orbuy an exclusive product based on information stored in a user's onlinecommunity account. There are various ways in which the system mayselectively transmit communications to users based data (e.g., athleticactivity data) stored in the user's online community account (e.g., Nikeprofile/account) without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure. For example, the system may selectively transmit (e.g.,broadcast) communications via a social networking website (e.g., aTweet, post, etc.) to users that have achieved one or more athleticactivity milestones. As another example, the system may selectivelytransmit communications to users that have exceeded a threshold level ofathletic activity (e.g., earned a threshold level of athletic activitypoints, burned a threshold number of calories, etc.). In someembodiments, the product reservation system may selectively transmit(e.g., broadcast) communications to users based on product preferencesand other user preferences stored in the user's online community accountor profile.

In other example embodiments, the product reservation system mayselectively transmit (e.g., broadcast) communications to users based ona location of the user. Many exemplary computing devices devices (e.g.,mobile computing devices) contain a global positioning system (GPS)receiver that permits GPS satellites to identify the geographic locationof the mobile computing device. Oftentimes, a user may carry the mobilecomputing device on their person and thus GPS is able to identify thelocation of the user through this method. The ability to track a user'slocation is useful in commerce. For example, as will be discussed inmore detail below, the user may be offered location-specific informationregarding upcoming drawing sessions offering products, events orservices that are local to the geographic area in which the user islocated. Further, the user's location may be calculated by any meansother than GPS. GPS location tracking is a feature that is commonlyincorporated into mobile computing devices and thus lends itself well toinclusion in the methods and systems described herein. In someembodiments, the product reservation system may selectively transmit(e.g., broadcast) communications to users regarding an upcoming drawingbased on the geographic location of the user. For example, the productreservation system may transmit a communication to registered usersresiding or located in a particular geographic region regarding adrawing for tickets to a local sporting event. As another example, theproduct reservation system may transmit a communication to registeredusers residing or located in a particular city regarding a drawing foran exclusive footwear product signed by a local athlete.

Accordingly, the product reservation system may selectively targetparticular users to offer opportunities to reserve and/or purchaseexclusive products prior to those products becoming available to thegeneral public. The product reservation system may selectively targetparticular users to offer opportunities to reserve and/or purchaseexclusive products based on information collected by the system, such asthe number and/or type of products for which a user has previoussubmitted reservation requests (e.g., reservation request history).Additionally or alternatively, the product reservation system mayutilize a user's reservation request history to generate productrecommendations for the user. For example, if the product reservationdetermines that the user has submitted multiple reservation requests forfootwear products within a particular time period, the productreservation system may determine one or more common characteristics,features, and/or attributes among the footwear products associated withthe reservation requests submitted by the user. For example, withrespect to footwear products, the product reservation system may collectand store various types of information regarding the attributes and/orcharacteristics of each footwear product offered to users, such as colorinformation, product type information (e.g., mid, lo, high-top, etc.),product material information, product personalization information (e.g.,content, size, location, color, etc.), logo information (e.g., size,brand, location, etc.), performance attributes (breathability,stiffness, etc.). The product reservation system may utilize thisinformation to recommend other footwear products to the user that mayhave similar characteristics, features, and/or attributes. Any number ofproduct characteristics, features, and/or attributes may be consideredand processed by the product reservation system when generating productrecommendations for a user without departing from the scope of thepresent disclosure.

In other aspects of the disclosure herein, the product reservationsystem may selectively transmit (e.g., broadcast) communicationsindicating a goal, challenge, or task that a user must complete prior toreceiving the opportunity to reserve/and or buy an exclusive product.Challenges may include one or more goals that are to be completed in aspecified time frame. A challenge may be won by completing the challengein the fastest time, performing the most steps in the allotted time,burning the most calories, earning the most activity points (or FUEL),etc. There are variety of goals, challenges, or tasks that a user may beasked to complete prior to receiving the opportunity to reserve/and orbuy an exclusive product without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure. For example, a user may be required to obtain a certainnumber of athletic activity points or register a certain number of hoursplayed on a particular video before being granted access to participatein a drawing. The entity offering the exclusive product may partner withadvertisers or other third-parties to determine the one or more tasksthat a user must complete. Upon completing the specified goal or task,the user may be provided with a unique code that must be re-entered atthe website hosting the drawing in order to participate in the drawing.

In some aspects of the present disclosure, a first user (or group ofusers) may challenge a second user (or group of users) for theopportunity to participate in a product drawing session. The productreservation system may provide or be operatively connected to a module,an interface, dashboard, etc. for challenging other registered users. Insome example embodiments, a user may challenge one or more other usersvia an interface (or website) provided by the user's online communityaccount (e.g., Nike profile/account). The user may be prompted toprovide specified parameter for the challenge, such as the type ofactivity, the starting date of the challenge, the amount of activityrequired to win the challenge, the other users participating in thechallenge, etc. After the participants of the challenge have beenidentified, and the challenge has been created, the participants mayutilize athletic monitoring devices to collect athletic data during thechallenge. The collected athletic data for each participant mayaggregated and stored in each user's online community account.

For example, if the challenge is a race to determine who can be thefirst to run 100 miles, for each participant the athletic activity datamay be collected and displayed via an interface on the user's onlinecommunity account. The interface may display the sum of the totaldistance values completed (e.g., miles completed) by a participant basedon athletic activity data collected for that participant after thechallenge start date. In some aspects of the disclosure herein, theinterface may show each participant's progress toward the goal of thechallenge (e.g., using a bar graph). When a participant has a sum of hisor her total distance values that matches or exceeds the specifiedchallenge distance (and is the first user to do so), then the productreservation system may identify that participant as the winner of thechallenge. In some embodiments, the winner of the challenge may beprovided with a reward, such as a higher user ranking in the onlinecommunity, access to a product drawing session, etc. The winner of thechallenge may be provided with various types of awards without departingfrom the scope of the disclosure herein.

In other example embodiments, the product reservation system mayselectively transmit (e.g., broadcast) communications to particulargroups of users indicating the opportunity to participate in a drawingsession. For example, the product reservation system may selectivelytransmit (e.g., broadcast) communications to a group of usersparticipating in a particular sporting event or other activity.Participants in the sporting event (e.g., marathon, race, etc) mayregister for the event and indicate in an online communityaccount/profile that they will be participating in the event. Theproduct reservation system may be configured to determine whether aparticular user is registered for and/or will be participating in thesporting event based on data contained within the user'saccount/profile. Accordingly, the product reservation system mayidentify several users participating in the same sporting activity andmay selectively transmit a message to those users. As another example,the product reservation system may selectively transmit (e.g.,broadcast) communications to a group of users that have yet to win aproduct drawing. In this example, product reservation system may beconfigured to determine whether a particular user has previously won aproduct drawing based on historical reservation request data collectedby the system.

Next, in step 304 the product reservation system may determine whether aparticular drawing should be initiated. The product reservation systemmay compare the predetermined start time for a drawing (e.g., a productdrawing session) to the current time in order to determine whether toinitiate the product drawing session. In some embodiments, the productreservation system may display on a website (or other user interface) aclock or timer that displays an amount of time remaining prior to thestart of the drawing. If the product reservation system determines thatit is not yet time to initiate the product drawing session (e.g., tooearly to start the drawing), the system may continue to wait until thepredetermined date and/or time for initiating the drawing.

If the product reservation system determines that it is time to initiatethe drawing, the method may proceed to step 306 where the productreservation system may initiate the drawing session for one or moreexclusive products, events, and/or services. The product reservationsystem may provide users with various interfaces for participating inthe drawing session and submitting reservation requests. For example,the product reservation system may be operably connected to or incommunication with web servers hosting a website for the drawing. Duringstep 306, the product reservation system may transmit a message to theuser, (e.g., via the website or some other interface), indicating thestart of the product drawing session. Additionally or alternatively, theproduct reservation system may transmit a message indicating the startof the product drawing session to one or more computing devices orcommunication addresses associated with a user (or user account). Forexample, the product reservation system may transmit a message to auser's mobile computing device. As another example, the productreservation system may transmit a message to an email address or socialnetworking account associated with the user.

In some aspects of the disclosure herein, the product reservation systemmay set a response time period (e.g., 10 minutes, 30 minutes, or anyother desired time period) in which users must submit reservationrequests. The product reservation system may, for example, only acceptproduct reservation requests received within the response time period.In some example embodiments, at the start of the product drawingsession, the product reservation system may initiate a session timer (orclock) indicating an amount of time remaining before the end of theproduct drawing session. For example, if the product drawing sessionlasts 10 minutes (e.g., the user has 10 minutes to complete reservationrequests for exclusive products), the session timer may countdown from10 minutes to 0 minutes to indicate the amount of time remaining beforethe product drawing session ends.

At step 308, the product reservation system may determine whether a userattempting to submit a reservation request is a registered user. Duringstep 308, the product reservation system may determine whether the userhas previously registered a user account with the entity offering theexclusive product. In other aspects of the disclosure herein, theproduct reservation system may compare credentials (e.g., username,password, etc.) provided by the user with a database of registered usercredentials to determine whether the user has previously registeredand/or created a user account with the product reservation system. Ifthe user is a registered user, the method may proceed to step 312. Ifthe user is not a registered user, the method may proceed to step 310,wherein the product reservation system may prompt the user to provideinformation for establishing a user account. As discussed above, theproduct reservation system may provide various webpages (or interfaces)such that the user may participate in the product drawing session. Theproduct reservation system may provide the user with a registrationinterface for inputting user registration information. For example, theproduct reservation system may request the user's contact information, ausername, a password, and email address, and other similar userinformation in order to create and register the user account.

At step 312, the product reservation system may receive user inputindicating a particular product for which the user desires to submit areservation request. As illustrated in FIGS. 10A-B & 11 and as describedin greater detail below, in some aspects of the disclosure herein, theproduct reservation system may display images of the various productsbeing offered during the drawing. During step 312, the productreservation system may receive user input selections, via the providedinterface(s), indicating product details for the product selected by theuser. For example, a user may be provided with one or more interfaceelements (e.g., menus, drop-down lists, etc.), for indicating a desiredproduct size, product color, and the like.

Next in step 314, the product reservation system may receive deliveryinformation and/or preferences for the exclusive product, event, andselected by the user during step 312. As illustrated in FIG. 13 and asdescribed in greater detail below, in some aspects of the disclosureherein, the product reservation system may provide users with a list ofretail stores where the user may purchase and/or pick-up the exclusiveproduct selected by the user in the event that the user wins thedrawing. As another example, the product reservation system may alsoprovide the user with an option to deliver (e.g., mail, ship, etc.) theexclusive product to a particular mailing address. In this example, theproduct reservation system may prompt the user to enter the mailingaddress into a text box (or some other interface element) provided onthe website or other interface.

At step 316, the product reservation system may determine whether thesession timer initiated at the start of the drawing session has expired.If the session timer has expired, the method may proceed to step 324. Ifthe session timer has not expired, the method may proceed to step 317,where the product reservation system may receive a reservation requestfrom a user for the product selected during step 312. In someembodiments, the product reservation system may receive user inputselection via a user interface indicating that a user has submitted areservation requests for a particular product. In some aspects of thepresent disclosure, after a user has submitted a reservation request,the product reservation system may transmit a message to the userindicating that the request has been received.

At step 318, the product reservation system may determine whether theuser desires to submit an additional reservation request(s) for otherproducts, events, and/or services being offered during the currentdrawing session. During step 318, the product reservation system mayprompt the user, via a display interface, to submit additionalreservation requests, or alternatively, to end the product drawingsession. If the product reservation system determines that the userdesires to submit additional reservation requests, the method mayproceed back to step 312. If the product reservation system determinesthat the user does not wish to submit additional reservation requests,the method may proceed to step 324. Similarly, in embodiments where onlyone product is being offered during the drawing session, the method mayproceed to step 324.

At step 320, the product reservation system may transmit a notificationto the user indicating that the product drawing session has expired. Insome embodiments, the product reservation system may present anotification (or message) on a user interface indicating that theproduct drawing session has expired. In other embodiments, the productreservation system may broadcast a message to multiple users indicatingthat the product drawing session has expired. At step 322, the productreservation system may determine whether the user has submitted at leastone reservation request during the drawing session. If the productreservation system determines that the user did not submit a reservationrequest during the drawing session, the process may end. If the productreservation system determines that the user submitted a reservationrequest during the drawing session, the method may proceed to step 324.

At step 324, the product reservation system may process the one or morereservation requests submitted during the drawing session. Step 324 mayinclude comparing attributes and selection information included inreservation requests, such as colors, sizes, delivery preferences, toavailable inventory. As will be discussed in more detail below, theproduct reservation system may communicate with inventory databases,data storages, or other computing devices to exchange information (e.g.,supply chain data), and to determine the availability of exclusiveproducts, events, or services being offered to consumers via the productreservation system. For example, with respect to exclusive footwearproducts, the product reservation system may communicate with a supplychain management system, inventory database, and/or other data storageto exchange supply chain data and other information concerning thefootwear products being offered to consumers via a drawing session.

In some aspects of the present disclosure, the product reservationsystem may be configured to dynamically update and/or adjust inventoryinformation for specific products, utilizing exchanged supply chaindata, as consumers are matched to available products (e.g., userreservation requests are accepted), and as those excusive products aresubsequently purchased and/or delivered. By integrating the productreservation system with supply-chain management systems of the entityoffering and/or distributing the exclusive product (or other thirdparties), the product reservation system may facilitate the simple andefficient communication of supply chain data between supply chain (ortrade) partners, such as factories, wholesalers, retailers,transportation companies, and the consumer. Accordingly, the productreservation system may have integrated, real-time access to criticalsupply chain data, such as supply/inventory, demand, product orderstatus, and delivery status, etc., thus streamlining the inefficienciesin managing the distribution and delivery of products offered via adrawing session, and providing consumers with real-time informationregarding the availability of those products, as well as status updatesconcerning submitted (or processed) reservation requests.

During step 324, the product reservation system may determine whichusers (and/or reservation requests) will win the drawing and be given anopportunity to purchase the product. In some aspects of the disclosureherein, the product reservation system may determine the winner(s) of adrawing by randomly selecting various users that have submitted areservation request. In other example embodiments, the productreservation system may rank the users that have submitted a reservationrequest (or alternatively, rank the reservation requests themselves)based on variety of factors. For example, the product reservation systemmay rank users based on the number of reservation request previouslysubmitted by the user, the number of drawings previously won by theuser, the number of instances in which a user failed to purchase aproduct after winning a drawing, and the like. As another example, theproduct reservation system may rank users based on athletic activitydata stored in the user's online community account (e.g., Nikeprofile/account). For example, the product reservation system may rankusers based on a level of athletic activity performed within apredetermined time period (e.g., 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 1 year, etc.)prior to the drawing session. The product reservation system may rankusers based on a number of personal athletic activity goals ormilestones achieved by the user. The product reservation system mayselect the highest ranked user(s) as the winner(s) of the productdrawing, and offer the winning user(s) an opportunity to purchase theselected product.

Additionally or alternatively, the product reservation system may rankusers based on a point system. The product reservation system may trackthe number of points rewarded to and/or subtracted from a user as theyparticipate in drawing sessions over time. A user may be awarded pointsfor a variety of actions (or events), such as participating in a drawingsession, registering a user account, failing to win a drawing,responding to a broadcast message, participating in athletic activities,and the like. As an example, users that fail to win drawings over timemay accumulate a sufficient number of points to increase their overallranking, and as such, also increase their chances of winning sub sequentdrawings. Similarly, the user may lose points for a variety of reasons(or events), such as failing to purchase a product after winning adrawing, failing to participate in a threshold level athletic activitywithin a predetermined time period, wining a drawing, and the like. Theproduct reservation system may weight the number of points awarded toand/or subtract from a user for each of the various events discussedabove. There are a variety of other ways in which the productreservation system may rank users or their corresponding reservationrequests based on information collected by the system without departingfrom the scope of the present disclosure.

In addition to determining the winners of the product drawing, theproduct reservation system may process reservation requests submitted byusers and generate various types of notification messages. For example,the product reservation system may process a reservation request anddetermine that the requested product or requested size is not recognizedor no longer available at the preferred store location, and thenotification message may indicate the same to the consumer. The productreservation system may also determine whether the consumer already has apending product reservation, and the notification message may indicatethe system has already received a product reservation from the user forthat product.

At step 326, the product reservation system may transmit the results ofthe drawing to one or more user. The product reservation system mayprocess the results of the drawing and generate a personalized messageto each user submitting a reservation requesting indicating whether theywon or lost the drawing. The product reservation system may process theresults of the drawing and generate various types of notificationmessages. For example, the product reservation system may process thedrawing results and transmit a request for payment message (ornotification) to the one or more winners of the drawing. As anotherexample, the product reservation system may process the drawing resultsand send a notification to the losers of the drawing querying whetherthey wish to be notified if additional products become available, forexample, if a winner of the drawing decides not to purchase theexclusive product or does not purchase the product within apredetermined time period.

It will be appreciated that alternative types of media channels may beemployed to broadcast messages by the product reservation system.Furthermore, combinations of various types of media channels may beemployed to broadcast the availability of exclusive product offeringsand receive reservation requests. For example, one type of media channel(e.g., Twitter) may be employed to broadcast the announcement of theavailability of an exclusive product, event or service, and a differenttype of media channel (e.g., mobile device) may be utilized by a user toprovide a response including the reservation request.

Alternative embodiments may use push notification features. For example,Android and iOS mobile devices include push notification features thatmay be used to implement aspects of the disclosure. A consumer maydownload an application and preregister. As part of the preregistrationprocess consumers may be registered to participate in product launchesexclusive to that application. By pre-registering consumers may offer upadditional bits of information (shoe/apparel sizes, interests, set up ofexpress checkout, etc.) and that information may be used to targetproduct launches to particular consumers (e.g., as part of a loyaltyprogram), and as the user may subsequently receive push notificationsindicating the launch of exclusive products and the correspondingproduct drawing date/time. Push notifications may also be used to sendconsumers targeted messages that match consumer interests, and may onlyrequire an ‘acknowledgement’ of push notifications to submit areservation request for that product.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that aspects of the disclosureare not limited to use with products. In other embodiments the methodsand systems described herein may be used in connection with services orproducts that have limited availability. For example, the productreservation system described herein may host, via a website (or otherinterface), one or more drawing sessions that offers tickets to sportingevents.

The product reservation system may also be employed with respect toproducts for which availability is not limited, but for which areservation may be desirable, e.g., products having a high-demand withthe potential for significant wait times to purchase. It should also beappreciated that “product” as used in this description refers tophysical goods, services, and any other purchasable things. Someembodiments may also include providing preferred consumers or otherswith messages announcing the availability of exclusive products and theoccurrence of product drawing sessions before a general broadcast toother consumers.

In other aspects of the disclosure herein, the product reservationsystem may also include an administrative platform, module, interface,dashboard, etc. for creating new product launch campaigns, composing andinitiating the broadcast of the initial message indicating that aproduct drawing session will occur in the future, monitoring submittedreservation requests, and facilitating other administrative functions.As will be discussed in more detail below, an administrator may utilizethe platform (or interface) to review supply chain data, historicalreservation request data, and other

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a product reservation system 400 thatmay be implemented in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. Theproduct reservation system 400 automates the product reservation processallowing consumers to reserve a right to purchase exclusive productsand/or services via, e.g., a website interface. The product reservationsystem 400 may manage inventory at an inventory data store 402. Theproduct reservation system 400 may be operatively connected (via one ormore communication links) to an inventory database or supply chainmanagement system of the entity offering exclusive products and/orservices via product reservation system 400. The product reservationsystem 400 may be configured to retrieve information regarding currentinventory levels (or other supply chain data), and store thisinformation in inventory data store 402.

The product reservation system 400 may also communicate with consumersusing a product reservation module 404, receive reservation requests viaa reservation request collection module 406, and process reservationrequests at a reservation request processing module 408. The productreservation system 400 also includes a reservation management module 410that manages product reservation requests stored at a productreservation data store 412. The result is an elevated consumerexperience and streamlined process that advantageously decreasesoverhead and margin for error in creating and running productreservation campaigns and drawing sessions.

The product reservation module 404 may be a load balanced applicationthat serves as the user interface for the product reservation system400. In other aspects of the disclosure herein, product reservationmodule 404 may be a load balanced application operatively incommunication with web servers (not shown) hosting a product reservationwebsite. An administrator may utilize the product reservation module 404to update inventory for exclusive products being offered, create andconfigure product reservation campaigns & drawing sessions, and monitoractive drawing sessions. The product reservation module 404 may alsoinitiate the broadcast of the message announcing drawings and theavailability of exclusive products, events, and/or services, e.g., bysending the initial broadcast message. The reservation requestprocessing module 408 may be configured to dynamically (e.g., inreal-time) update current levels of inventory for exclusive productsand/or services offered during a drawing. Having the reservation requestprocessing module 408 (or some other component of the productreservation system) dynamically update current levels of inventory forproducts and/or services may allow the system to more quickly andefficiently notify users concerning the status of a pending reservationrequest. Additionally, as will be discussed in more detail below, theproduct reservation system may notify users if additional inventory foran exclusive product becomes available (e.g., another user decides notto purchase the exclusive product).

Once a drawing session has begun, the reservation management module 410may monitor the drawing session, e.g., by tracking and monitoringreservation requests submitted by various users. The reservationmanagement module 410 may be a lightweight application that tracks thereservation request collection module 406. The reservation managementmodule 410 may also serve as the interface to the reservation data store412. The reservation request collection module 406 may connect to orcommunicate with the one or more web servers hosting the product drawingwebsite to collect the reservation requests submitted by users via thewebsite. The reservation request collection module 406 may be configuredto track and store the number of reservation requests submitted by auser over time. The reservation request collection module 406 maytransmit such information to the entity offering the exclusive productfor subsequent use, such as when targeting future broadcast messages toparticular users. The product reservation system 400 may includemultiple reservation request collection modules 406. The reservationrequest collection module 406 may perform the initial processing of thereservation requests and route the reservation requests to be processed.The product reservation system 400 may maintain a queue 414 of submittedreservation requests waiting to be processed by a reservation requestprocessing module 408.

The reservation request processing module 408 may include the businesslogic used to process the reservation requests as described above. Theproduct reservation system 400 may include multiple reservation requestprocessing modules 408. The reservation request processing module 408may determine if a submitted reservation request matches any productsthat are currently available (or in-stock) at retail stores. If thereservation request processing module 408 recognizes a product anddetermines the product is available, it sends a request back to theproduct reservation module 404 to finalize and issue a message ornotification indicating that the user has won the drawing. The productreservation module may perform some final checks to before issuing thenotification, e.g., a check to ensure the product reservations are notoverbooked.

The product reservation system 400 may sustain both the possibility foroutages (availability) and the occasional spikes in traffic(scalability) to the product drawing website and the number ofreservation requests submitted by users via the website. The system 400may be configured to be modular and highly decoupled. Resource intensivemodules may be replicated to provide extra resources in an ad hocfashion to respond to traffic patterns. Additionally, the use of areservation request queue 414 advantageously avoids any blocking ofconnections. A load balancer 416 may be employed to facilitatecollection and processing of submitted reservation requests. In someembodiments, a caching system may also be employed to help to ensurethat the product reservation system 400 can respond to reservationrequests quickly.

Aspects of the embodiments have been described in terms of illustrativeembodiments thereof. Numerous other embodiments, modifications andvariations within the scope and spirit of the appended claims will occurto persons of ordinary skill in the art from a review of thisdisclosure. For example, one of ordinary skill in the art willappreciate that the steps illustrated in the illustrative figures may beperformed in other than the recited order, and that one or more stepsillustrated may be optional in accordance with aspects of theembodiments.

FIGS. 5-15 illustrate exemplary graphical user interface screens forpresenting information to users and receiving information from users. Asdiscussed above, after selecting a link included within a broadcastmessage, a consumer may be directed to website, (e.g., a website of theentity offering the product, event, or service), in order to participatein the drawing session and submit a reservation request. FIGS. 5-15 showa series of graphical user interface screens that provide consumers withthe opportunity to reserve the right to purchase exclusive products byparticipating in a drawing. The example shown relates to footwearproducts. Of course, the process may also be used with other productssuch as clothing, athletic equipment, consumer electronic devices andany other product that may have a limited supply. Additionally oralternatively, the process may also be used with events and othercustomer experiences, such as meeting professional athletes, tickets toathletic events, and the like.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example user interface screen 500 (as may begenerated on a computing device) in which a user is involved in anon-line drawing to reserve a right to purchase an exclusive product. Thewebsite hosting the drawing session may display various products beingoffered to consumers in a first portion of the interface display 500,such as product display area 510. The product(s) shown in display area510 may correspond to the exclusive product(s) being offered and/oradvertised in a broadcast message to consumers. As shown in FIG. 5, asecond portion of the interface display 500 may provide consumersvisiting the website with instructions for participating in the drawingfor the exclusive product and submitting a reservation request. Forexample, display area 520 illustrates that in order for a user toparticipate in a drawing for the exclusive product, the consumer mustsign into and/or register for a user account, choose the product thatthey wish to reserve, and then wait to determine the results of thedrawing. A consumer may advance to the next steps in the productreservation process by selecting the “Get Started” interface element(i.e., element 530).

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a user interface response that mighttake places as a result of a consumer selecting the Get Startedinterface element as described in conjunction with FIG. 5. In thisillustrated example, a login interface for the product reservationwebsite is presented to the user. Login interface 600 may include anoverlay screen portion or text box(es) that request information from theuser in order to launch the drawing session. For example, as illustratedin FIG. 4, text boxes may be displayed in a portion of login interface600 that request entry of the user's email address and password. Therequest(s) for information may be provided to the user in any desiredmanner or format without departing from the present disclosure, such asvia text input boxes, drop down listings, etc.

In some embodiments, one or more text boxes displayed in login interface600 may be pre-populated with the requested user information. Forexample, if a user has previously created a user account with the entityoffering the exclusive product (e.g., a Nike+ account), the website mayretrieve the requested user information from a cookie (or other datastorage), and display the user information in the one or more text boxeswhen the login interface is initially displayed to the user. Once allnecessary or desired information is input by the user, the drawingsession may be launched by user input at the “Sign In” icon (or in anyother desired manner). Optionally, if desired, the drawing session canbe launched directly from the interface screen of FIG. 5, without theneed for input of this type of additional information, without departingfrom the present disclosure. This may be done, for example, if userinformation for the consumer (e.g., email, password, etc.) and IDinformation for the computer starting the drawing session has alreadybeen stored (e.g., in a cookie), and is available from a previousdrawing session, etc.

If a consumer does not have a user account, the consumer may registerfor a new user account by selecting the “Join Now” icon. FIG. 7illustrates an example registration interface 700 that may be presentedas a result of a user selecting the Join Now icon as described inconjunction with FIG. 6. In this illustrated example, registrationinterface 600 may request information from the user in order to generatea user account and launch the drawing session. For example, theregistration may include text boxes that request entry of the user'sname, email, a user ID, password, gender, zip code, mobile phone number,and other desired information. As another example, the registration mayinclude text boxes that request entry of payment information (e.g.,credit card information, bank account number, online payment servicecredentials, etc.) from the user. In this example, the productreservation may store this information for subsequent use if the user issuccessful in reserving the right to purchase an exclusive product(e.g., the user is a winner in the product drawing). In some aspects ofthe disclosure, the user may have the option to automatically credit anypurchases made during the drawing session to a preferred credit card (orany other method of payment) in the event the user is selected as awinner of the drawing.

In some aspects of the present disclosure, the product reservationsystem may require a user to verify information provided in theregistration interface. The product reservation system may transmit averification email, text, or other message to the user containing aunique code or message. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 8, uponselecting the “Send Code” icon, the product reservation system maytransmit a code to the mobile device associated with the mobile phonenumber provided by the consumer. As illustrated in FIG. 9, a user mayhave to re-enter the transmitted code in the registration interface inorder to verify their account information. Various other methods ofverifying account information provided by a user may be performed by theproduct reservation system without departing from the scope of thedisclosure herein.

FIG. 10A illustrates an example user interface that may be displayed toa consumer as a result of initiating a product drawing session asdescribed above. In this illustrated example, interface display 1000 maybe presented to a user that attempts to initiate the product drawingsession prior to the predetermined start time of the drawing. Asillustrated in FIG. 10A, the drawing for the exclusive product shown indisplay area 1010 does not begin until 7 pm on a predetermined date(e.g., September 10^(th)). Accordingly, the product reservation platformmay not permit users to submit reservation requests until after apredetermined date and time. As further illustrated in FIG. 10A, aconsumer may obtain additional information about the exclusive productshown in display 1010 by selecting the “Learn More” icon (i.e.,interface element 1020). Additionally, a portion of interface display1000 may display a product name, a cost, or other information associatedwith the exclusive product being displayed in display area 1010.

As illustrated by element 1040, a portion of interface display 1000 mayprovide the user with access to additional information regarding theproduct drawing session. For example, after interface element 1040 isselected by a user, an overlay portion screen may be presented to theuser providing additional information, such as answers to frequentlyasked questions, concerning the product drawing session, submission ofreservation requests, and the like. Optionally, if desired, a newinterface display may be displayed to the user providing additionalinformation regarding the product drawing session. Additionally,interface display 1000 may include an interface element (e.g., element1050) that provides users with information regarding upcoming launchesand releases of exclusive products. For example, the user may bedirected to an interface that includes a calendar display the days onwhich exclusive products will be released for a given month.

In some aspects of the present disclosure, multiple exclusive productsmay be offered to a user during a product drawing session. For example,as illustrated in FIG. 10B, a user may submit a reservation request foreach of the three exclusive products shown in interface display 1070.Product and cost information for each exclusive product may be displayedto the user on interface display 1070 as described above in conjunctionwith FIG. 10A.

In some aspects of the disclosure herein, a user may “post” to a socialnetworking website a notification that they are participating in theproduct drawing session. Many social networking websites have a userprofile webpage that allows the user to post personal items or statusupdates for viewing by others. Visitors to the website hosting theproduct drawing session may wish to notify others that they areparticipating in a product drawing session, have successfully reservedan exclusive product, and the like. Such social networking websites maybe maintained by the same entity that maintains the product drawingwebsite, such as the manufacture of the exclusive products beingoffered. Additionally or alternatively such social networking websitesmay be maintained by a third party, such as Facebook®, Twitter®,MySpace®, and the like.

For example, as depicted by display area 1060 in FIG. 10A, interfacedisplay 1000 may display icons associated with various social networkingwebsites or online communities. Users may have the option to accomplisha “post” by clicking on one of the icons presented in display area 1060.In some aspects of the disclosure herein, a user may integrate (oraffiliate) one or more social networking or online community accountswith a user profile associated with the product reservation system. Insome arrangements, the user may receive communications relating to thelaunch of exclusive products and/or the opportunity to reserve the rightto purchase such products.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example user interface that may be displayed to auser as a result of initiating a product drawing session as describedabove. In this illustrated example, interface display 1100 may bepresented to a user that attempts to initiate the product drawingsession within the predetermined time established by the productreservation system for submitting one or more reservation requests. Asillustrated in FIG. 11, a portion of interface display 1100 (e.g.,display area 1110) may include a session timer (or clock) indicating anamount of time a user has to complete the product drawing session andsubmit reservation requests. For example, the product reservation systemmay provide the user with 3 minutes, 5 minutes, or any other suitableamount of time to complete the product drawing session. In other aspectsof this disclosure, the session timer (or clock) may indicate an amountof time remaining prior to the end of the product drawing session. Forexample, as illustrated in FIG. 11, display area 1110 may indicate thatthe product drawing session will end in 10 minutes, and as such, theproduct reservation system may no longer accept reservation requestsupon expiration of the session timer.

In some embodiments, a portion of interface display 1100 (e.g., displayarea 1120) may display an image of and related product information for(e.g., product name, cost, etc.) for the exclusive product being offeredduring the product drawing session. Additionally or alternatively, asillustrated by element 1130, interface display 1100 may also displayimages and related product and cost information for the one or moreother exclusive products being offered during the current productdrawing session. As illustrated in FIG. 11, a user may select icon 1140in order to continue the product drawing session and submit areservation request for the exclusive product shown in display area1120.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example user interface that may be displayed to auser as a result of initiating a product drawing session as describedabove with reference to FIG. 11. In this illustrated example an overlayscreen portion 1200 may be provided on interface display 1100. In someaspects of the present disclosure, when overlay screen portion 1200 ispresented, interface display 1100 may be partially or substantiallyobscured in order to visually emphasize overlay screen portion 1200. Forexample, as illustrated in FIG. 12, interface display 1100 is partiallyobscured (e.g., “greyed-out”) such that overlay screen portion 1200 isvisually emphasized to the user. As illustrated in FIG. 12, overlayscreen portion 1200 may include an image of the exclusive product that auser desires to reserve. Additionally, overlay screen portion 1200 mayinclude one or more icons (or interface elements) that may requestadditional information regarding the exclusive product the user desiresto reserve. For example, overlay screen portion 1200 may include a“Size” icon (i.e., icon 1210) that, upon selection, displays a list ofavailable product sizes for the footwear product selected by the user.

As discussed above, the product reservation system may communicate witha supply-chain management system, inventory database, data storage(e.g., inventory data store 402) and/or some other computing device(s)to exchange supply chain information concerning the various products,events, or service being made available via a drawing session. In someaspects of the present disclosure, the product reservation system mayreceive real-time supply-chain data, inventory information, and/orupdates concerning the availability of exclusive products. For example,when receiving reservation requests from consumers during a drawingsession, the product reservation system may retrieve and process supplychain data to determine whether products and/or product sizes areavailable for purchase at particular retail stores or locations.Providing the user with real-time data regarding the availability ofexclusive products may allow the user to make more informed decisionswhen making product decisions and selecting delivery preferences.Referring back to FIG. 12, the product reservation system maydynamically update the list of product sizes displayed to the user inaccordance with a current inventory for that product. The productreservation system may quickly and efficiently accepted matchreservation requests with available inventory for exclusive products atparticular retail locations, and as such, reduce the amount of time toprocess reservation requests and provide instant results of productdrawings to participating users.

In some aspects of the present disclosure, the product reservationsystem may be configured to transmit information concerning reservationsand purchases made by consumers during and/or after a drawing session.For example, as reservation requests for a particular footwear productare accepted and processed, the product reservation system may transmitproduct information, delivery information, and other supply chain datato a supply chain management system or other data storage for furtherprocessing. The product reservation system may also be configured toexchange and/or update supply chain data as winners of a particulardrawing session purchase the reserved products. For example, when a userpurchases (or doesn't purchase) a product after winning a drawing, theproduct reservation system may update and/or transmit to othermanagement systems supply chain data in accordance with the purchase (ornon-purchase) of the product.

Additionally, the product reservation system may exchange supply chaindata with retail store locations to ensure adequate inventory levels ofparticular products as user complete the purchases of products afterwinning a drawing session. The product reservation system may utilizeinformation collected during a drawing session and supply chain data toassess product demand and determine the proper allocation anddistribution of products to retail stores in real-time. For example, theproduct reservation system may extract product and delivery preferenceinformation for reservation requests submitted by winners of a drawingsession, and communicate such information to a supply-chain managementsystem or inventory database to update inventory levels and other supplychain data. In other aspects of the present invention, an administratorof the product reservation system may selectively manage which productsare made available via a drawing session based on supply chain data,such as the supply/demand information for available products. Forexample, the product reservation system may retrieve from memoryhistorical reservation request data to determine demand for a previouslyoffered product. This demand information may be utilized by theadministrator, along with other supply chain data to determine whetherto make a product available via a drawing session.

Additionally or alternatively, historical reservation request data,supply chain data, and other information collected and/or processed bythe product reservation system may be utilized to determine the optimalretail locations where products should be made available. For example,the product reservation system may analyze historical reservationrequest data to determine which retail stores received the most requestsfor a particular product, and may adjust inventory levels for thatproduct at particular retail stores based on this information (e.g.,increase the product supply at retail stores having the highest demand).As another example, the product reservation system may analyzehistorical reservation request data to determine which retail storessold the least amount of a particular product via previous drawingsessions, and may adjust inventory levels for that product at particularretail stores based on this information (e.g., reduce the product supplyat retail stores selling the least amount of products). Accordingly, theproduct reservation system may communicate with a supply chainmanagement system to optimize the allocation of resources and productsupply in advance of future drawing sessions.

Referring back to FIG. 12, in some example embodiments, overlay screenportion 1200 may include a “Store” icon (i.e., icon 1220) that permits auser to select from a list of stores offering the exclusive product. Forexample, as illustrated in FIG. 13, in response to receiving user inputselection of the Store icon, overlay screen portion 1200 may displaydrop-down menu 1300, which provides a list of retail stores offering theexclusive product selected by the user. As discussed above with respectto Size icon 1210, the product reservation system may communicate with adatabase or some other data storage (e.g., inventory data store 402) todetermine whether a particular retail store has the requested productand product size in inventory. Accordingly, the product reservationsystem may dynamically update the list of retail stores displayed to theuser in accordance with a current inventory for that product. In someaspects of the present disclosure, menu 1300 may provide a list ofretail stores from which the user may pick-up (or purchase) theexclusive product.

As illustrated in FIG. 13, in some aspects of the disclosure herein, theuser may request delivery of the exclusive to a particular address, suchas a home address. The user may be directed to a subsequent userinterface to provide additional delivery information. In otherembodiments, the user interface may retrieve delivery information froman account associated with the user, such as the account established bythe user as discussed above with respect to FIG. 7. The request forinformation in the overlay screen portion may be provided to the user inany desired manner or format without departing from this invention, suchas via drop-down listings, icons, buttons, etc. After the user hasfinished entering in the requested information, the user may select icon1310 in overlay screen portion 1200 to submit a reservation request tothe product reservation system for the exclusive product. In someaspects of the disclosure herein, icon 1310 may be presented ininterface display 1100 or another interface display during the productdrawing session.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example user interface that may be displayed to auser as a result of the user submitting a reservation request asdescribed above with reference to FIG. 13. For example, after submittinga reservation request for a first product, the user may be directed backto interface display 1100. In some embodiments, the user may be providedwith a new interface display. The interface display, such as interfacedisplay 1100, may indicate that a user has submitted a reservationrequest for a particular product by visually modifying the display areaassociated with that product. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 14,display area 1120 has been modified to be partially obscured (e.g.,semitransparent) to indicate that the reservation request submitted bythe user for that particular product has been received by the productreservation system. Additionally or alternatively, display area 1120 mayshow a message to a user indicating when the user will be notified as tothe results of the product drawing. For example, the message mayindicate to the user that the results of the product drawing will beannounced within a predetermined time period, e.g., 1 hour, 4 hours,etc. In some aspects of the disclosure herein, the results of thedrawing may be displayed to the user immediately after the productdrawing session closes. For example, upon expiration of the sessiontimer, the user may be directed to a user interface that displays theresults of the drawing. A user may be directed to the results interfaceregardless of whether the user has won or lost the product drawing. Insome instances, the user interface may display a message to the userindicating that the user should wait momentarily as the drawing resultsare being processed.

After submitting a reservation request for a first product, the user maysubmit reservation requests for other available exclusive productsduring the product drawing session. For example, as illustrated in FIG.14, the user may attempt to submit a reservation request for theexclusive product shown in display area 1420. In some embodiments, auser may be limited to a predetermined number of reservation requests(e.g., 1 request, 5 requests, etc.) over a predetermined time period.For example, each user may be provided with 5 reservation requests,which may be used over the course of 1 year. In some aspects of thepresent disclosure, a user may be awarded with additional reservationrequests for a variety of reasons, such as registering a user account,failing to win a drawing, participating in a threshold amount ofathletic activity, and the like. The number of reservation requestsprovided to each user may vary without departing from the scope of thepresent disclosure.

As noted above, a user may be required to submit reservation requestsfor other exclusive products prior to the expiration of the sessiontimer in display area 1110. In some embodiments, upon expiration of thesession timer displayed in display area 1120, the user may be directedto a user interface display indicating the product drawing session hasended. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 15, interface display 1500provides a message to the user indicating that the product drawingsession has closed.

Examples of Reservation Systems and Methods Embodied in a Mobile DeviceApplication

The product reservation system and methods described above may beimplemented in various mobile computing devices, such as mobiletelephones, smart phones, tablets, and other mobile devices. Some mobilecomputing devices may have access to the Internet through a Wi-Ficonnection or through the cellular network via a gateway computer. Suchmobile computing devices are capable of accessing websites, such as theproduct reservation and drawing session websites described above. Stillother mobile computing devices are capable of running a softwareapplication on the mobile computing device so that the user may be ableto directly interact with the product drawing session functionality. Forexample, entities that maintain websites on the Internet may createsoftware applications for use on individual (or groups of) mobilecomputing devices, such as a mobile telephone or smartphone. Such alocal software application provides the user with direct access to thefunctionality offered by an entity rather than accessing the website ofthe entity or a third-party.

As discussed above, a product reservation system may use a socialnetworking service to broadcast messages to consumers concerning theopportunity to participate in product drawing session and submitreservation requests for exclusive products, events, and/or services.Social networking services, such as Twitter, allow users to createmessages (i.e., Tweets) that are broadcasted to all followers of theTweet source. Twitter also allows parties to exchange direct messagesthat are not shared with other followers, e.g., via direct message. Asdepicted by elements 1610 and 1630 in FIG. 16A, a user may receive oneor messages, via a social networking service, concerning the launch ofan exclusive product. The broadcast message may include a date and timeat which a product drawing session will be held for the exclusiveproduct being offered. Additionally, the broadcast message may include ahyperlink to the website where the user may participate in the productdrawing session.

FIG. 16B illustrates an example webpage interface (e.g., interfacedisplay 1630), that may be presented to the user as a result ofselecting the hyperlink contained in the broadcast message. Theinterface display may show images and product information of the variousexclusive products being offered to consumers during the product drawingsession. A consumer may advance to a next step in the productreservation process by selecting the “Get Started” interface element(i.e., element 1640).

As illustrated in FIGS. 17A-D, the user interface display may providethe user with additional information concerning the product drawingsession and instructions for submitting a reservation request. A usermay access this information by scrolling to see portions of the webpageinterface not currently displayed on the mobile computing device. Aswill be appreciated, the mobile computing device may be equipped with atouch-sensitive display screen configured to recognize one or morephysical gestures performed by the user as user input. For example, themobile computing device may recognize an upward finger swipe performedby the user on the touch-sensitive display screen as user inputcorresponding to an upward scroll. Accordingly, upon recognizing thisuser gesture, the mobile computing device may scroll the interface beingdisplayed on the mobile computing device display upward. As anotherexample, the mobile computing device may recognize a single tap on thedisplay screen as a user input selection. The user may also rotate,swipe, tap, or pinch the mobile computing device as a means of inputtingdata or selecting options and/or interface elements within the interfacedisplay. Any suitable method of inputting data or selecting optionswithin the interface display may be implemented.

In order to access the functions available through the product drawingsession, users may be required to have a user profile. Users without aprofile may be required to register with the entity maintaining theproduct drawing website. For example, FIG. 18A illustrates a loginscreen interface that may appear when a user attempts to initiate aproduct drawing session. Users that already have existing user profilesmay enter their identifying information, such as their email address andpassword, as shown in FIG. 18A. Users that do not have an existingprofile may be required to register with the product reservation system.FIG. 18B illustrates an example registration interface display that mayprompt a user for registration information such as email address andpassword. Additionally information may be requested from the user duringthe registration process. For example, as illustrated in FIGS. 19A-B,the registration interface may request the user to provide additionalinformation, such as the user's date of birth, gender, zip code, andmobile telephone number. Any suitable information may be required forregistration.

The product reservation system may transmit a verification email, text,or other message to the user containing a unique code or message so asto authenticate the information provided by the user. For example, asillustrated in FIG. 19C, upon selecting the “Send Code” icon, theproduct reservation system may transmit a code to the mobile deviceassociated with the mobile phone number provided by the user. Asillustrated in FIGS. 19D-E, the user may have to re-enter thetransmitted code in the interface to verify their account information.

FIGS. 20A-C illustrate example user interface screens that may bedisplayed to a consumer as a result of initiating a product drawingsession as described above. The predetermined date and time for thedrawing may be displayed in a portion of the interface display. Asfurther illustrated in FIGS. 20A-C, a consumer may view images of andobtain additional information for the exclusive products being madeavailable during the upcoming drawing. For example, as shown in FIGS.20A-C, the user may select the “Learn More” icon to obtain additionalinformation regarding a product. The user may scroll through theinterface to view additional products being offered during the productdrawing session.

FIGS. 21A-B illustrate example interface screens that may be displayedas a result of the product reservation system initiating a productdrawing session. As described above with reference to FIG. 11, a portionof the interface display may include a session timer indicating anamount of time a user has to complete the product drawing session andsubmit reservation requests. As illustrated in FIGS. 21A and 21B, a usermay select the “Select” icon near an image of the exclusive product inorder to continue the product drawing session and submit a reservationrequest for that exclusive product.

FIG. 22A illustrates an example interface that may be displayed as aresult of the user selecting a particular exclusive product to reserveas described above with reference to FIG. 21. As illustrated in FIG.22A, the interface may include an image of the exclusive product thatthe user has selected, and may include one or more icons (or interfaceelements) that may request additional information regarding theexclusive product the user desires to reserve.

For example, the interface may include a “Size” icon (i.e., icon 1210)that, upon selection, displays a list of available product sizes for thefootwear product in display area 2210, as illustrated in FIG. 22B. Theuser may scroll through the different product sizes by swiping themobile device screen in display area 2210. The product reservationsystem may communicate with a database or some other data storage (e.g.,inventory data store 402) to determine whether a particular size of therequested product is available for purchase at a particular retail storeor location. Additionally or alternatively, the interface may include a“Store” icon that, upon selection, displays a list of stores (e.g.,retail stores) offering the exclusive product.

The product reservation system may communicate with a database or someother data storage (e.g., inventory data store 402) to determine whethera particular retail store has the requested product in inventory and/orthe requested size of the product. As illustrated in FIG. 22C, in someaspects of the disclosure herein, the user may request delivery of theexclusive to a particular address, such as a home address. The user maybe directed to a subsequent user interface to provide additionaldelivery information. The request for information in the interface maybe provided to the user in any desired manner or format withoutdeparting from this invention, such as via drop-down listings, icons,buttons, etc. After a product size and store (e.g., or other deliveryoption) has been selected, the user may submit the reservation requestby selecting the “Submit” icon in the interface displayed in FIG. 22D.

FIGS. 23A-B illustrate example interface screens that may be displayedas a result of the user submitting a reservation request as describedabove with reference to FIGS. 22A-D. The interface may indicate that auser has submitted a reservation request for a particular product byvisually modifying the display area associated with that product. Forexample, as illustrated in FIG. 23A, the display area associated withthe product reserved by the user been modified to be partially obscured(e.g., semitransparent), thus indicating that the reservation requestsubmitted by the user has been received by the product reservationsystem. Additionally or alternatively, the display area associated withthe product reserved by the user may show a message or notificationindicating when the user will be notified as to the results of theproduct drawing. A user may continue to scroll through the interface toselect additional products for which the user may submit a reservationrequest during the product drawing session. For example, FIG. 24A-Dillustrate example interfaces that may be displayed as a result of theuser selecting the exclusive product shown in display area 2310 in FIG.23A.

FIGS. 25A-B illustrate an example interface that may be displayed as aresult of the user submitting a reservation request as described abovewith reference to FIGS. 24A-D. In some embodiments, upon expiration ofthe session timer displayed in the interface display, the user may bedirected to a user interface display indicating that the product drawingsession has ended. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 25C, theinterface displays a message to the user indicating that the productdrawing session has closed.

CONCLUSION

While the invention has been described with respect to specific examplesincluding presently preferred modes of carrying out the invention, thoseskilled in the art will appreciate that numerous variations andpermutations of the above described systems and techniques may be madewithout departing from this invention. For example, the systems,methods, and/or user interfaces may include more, less, and/or differentfunctionality from that described above, and the various features of thesystems, methods, and/or user interfaces may be activated or interactedwith in various different manners (e.g., using different types ofinterface elements) from those described above. Also the various processsteps may be changed, changed in order, some omitted, and/or includeadditional steps or features without departing from this invention.Various changes and modifications to the systems, methods, and userinterfaces may be made without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention, as set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: broadcasting, by a computingdevice, a message to a plurality of users, wherein the message indicatesan opportunity to participate in a drawing for a product; receiving, bythe computing device, a plurality of reservation requests from a firstset of users of the plurality of users; obtaining, from a supply chainmanagement system, inventory data for the product; determining, by thecomputing device and based on the inventory data, data indicating ademand for the product; adjusting, by the computing device and based onthe demand data, an allocation of inventory for the product;determining, using geographic locations associated with each of thefirst set of users, a second set of users; processing, by the computingdevice, the plurality of received reservation requests associated withthe second set of users, the demand data, and the inventory data todetermine one or more winners of the drawing; after identifying a firsttraffic pattern in the plurality of received reservation requests,replicating one or more resource modules to facilitate the receiving andprocessing of the plurality of received reservation requests; andtransmitting a notification to a plurality of electronic devicesassociated with the one or more winners of the drawing.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: retrieving data representing a reservationrequest history for a first user; and generating a productrecommendation for the first user based at least in part on theretrieved data.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing, by thecomputing device, the plurality of received reservation requestsassociated with the second set of users further comprises: determiningwhether a threshold number of reservations requests have been receivedduring a predetermined time period.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: determining, based on the one or more winners, updatedinventory data for the product; and transmitting, to a remote computingdevice, the updated inventory data, wherein the remote computing deviceis located at a retail store.
 5. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: selectively identifying at least a first user in theplurality of users to receive the message based at least in part on thefirst user achieving an activity milestone.
 6. The method of claim 5,wherein the activity milestone comprises exceeding at least one of afirst threshold level of activity points or a first threshold level ofathletic activity.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:determining that a first user in the plurality of users issued anactivity challenge to a second user in the plurality of users;determining a winner of the activity challenge; and receiving, from thewinner of the activity challenge, a first reservation request.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: selectively identifying at leasta first user in the plurality of users to receive the message based atleast in part on a threshold proximity of the first user to a firstlocation.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the message is broadcastedvia a social networking service.
 10. The method of claim 1, whereinprocessing the plurality of received reservation requests furthercomprises: comparing at least one product performance attribute receivedin a first reservation request to product attributes of availableinventory for the product.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein processingthe plurality of received reservation requests further comprises:ranking users based at least in part on athletic activity data obtainedfrom the first set of users.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein themessage includes at least one of a date for or a duration of thedrawing.
 13. The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting, tothe supply chain management system, the adjusted inventory allocationfor the product.
 14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:providing an on-screen interface for a user, of the plurality of users,to submit a reservation request; and adjusting, based on the inventorydata, a first interface element of the on-screen interface.
 15. Aproduct reservation system comprising: one or more processors programmedwith computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause acomputing device to perform functions through a plurality of modulescomprising at least: a product reservation module programmed to causethe computing device to initiate a broadcast of a message to a pluralityof users, wherein the message indicates an opportunity to participate ina drawing for a product; a reservation request collection moduleprogrammed to cause the computing device to receive a plurality ofreservation requests from a first set of users of the plurality ofusers; a reservation request processing module programmed to cause thecomputing device to: obtain, from a supply chain management system,inventory data for the product; determine, based on the inventory data,data indicating a demand for the product; adjust, based on the demanddata, an allocation of inventory for the product; determine, usinggeographic locations associated with each of the first set of users, asecond set of users; and process the plurality of received reservationrequests associated with the second set of users, the demand data, andthe inventory data to determine one or more winners of the drawing,wherein the product reservation module is further programmed to causethe computing device to: transmit a notification to a plurality ofelectronic devices associated with the one or more winners of thedrawing; and wherein the computer-executable instructions, whenexecuted, further cause the computing device to: after identifying afirst traffic pattern in the plurality of received reservation requests,replicate one or more of the plurality of modules to facilitate thereceiving and processing of the plurality of received reservationrequests.
 16. The product reservation system of claim 15, wherein theinstructions, when executed, further cause the computing device to:selectively identify at least a first user in the plurality of users toreceive the message based at least in part on the first user achievingan activity milestone.
 17. The product reservation system of claim 15,wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the computingdevice to: selectively identifying at least a first user in theplurality of users to receive the message based at least in part on athreshold proximity of the first user to a first location.
 18. Theproduct reservation system of claim 15, wherein the instructions, whenexecuted, further cause the computing device to: rank users based atleast in part on athletic activity data obtained from the one or moreusers.
 19. The product reservation system of claim 15, wherein theinstructions, when executed, further cause the computing device to:compare at least one product attribute received in a first reservationrequest to product attributes of available inventory for the product.20. The product reservation system of claim 15, wherein theinstructions, when executed, further cause the computing device to:retrieve supply chain data from a supply chain management system.